Curry Experts....a small question.

Gday
Coconut milk is the clearish liquid that the tourists drink from a coconut.
Coconut cream is made from the white part of the coconut. The white is scraped and washed in a little water and squeezed and wrung out till it is creamy and beautiful and puts on weight and did i mention that it is beautiful and puts on weight ..Mix the cream with fish and poach , a little chilli mmmm Ika vuca lolo. One of the best tasting fish meals in Fiji, but not on a menu because it looks terrible.

Then theres Coconut powder!
Which tastes to me the same as the milk or cream.

Just as a side note, traditional curries are spicy and full of flavours but not very hot.

The addition of mind numbing amounts of curry was an british thing as the wanted to kill the taste of the meat than was quite often going off.

The canned product we can buy in Australia uses the same terminology we found when living in Indonesia. Coconut milk is the rich milky liquid formed by grating and squeezing fresh mature coconut flesh mixed with hot water.The first extract is thick coconut milk, the second extract is thin coconut milk. If it is left to stand for a while a rich layer will rise to the top of thick coconut milk - this is coconut cream. Canned coconut milk is generally a mixture of thick and thin coconut milk, depending on quality and price. Yes it is rich in saturated fat although it is a vegetable product but it is so yummy! Eat and enjoy in moderation. Of course, in S E Asia dairy products and meat are not generally used as widely as we use them so the saturated fat in coconut milk is not such an issue.
The clear liquid found in immature coconuts is coconut juice and is sold to tourists as a refreshing drink. Europeans mistakenly often still refer to this liquid as coconut milk.
Dry coconut milk powder is a useful product and gives a good result. You can also easily make coconut milk from desiccated coconut using hot water and a blender.
We too love to make curries as we travel so we always carry some tinned or powdered coconut milk - a veggie curry is a great way to use up everything before you cross the WA Satae Border! Lynne

I have also been reading up on Coconut oil ! as a lotion for my daughters allergy related skin problem.

Thing is they say Virgin Coconut oil will help with lots of health issues and assist with weight loss, stress, and lower cholesterol, but probably used in conjunction with Apple cider vinegar.

Apparently the oil is good and healthy for cooking!!! and tastes great..
In combination with Apple cider vinegar does other things good for your health, might be worth more googling me thinks.

L,

One other critical rule for a decent Curry; don't put bloody sultanas in it, they belong in children's lunchboxes. It's a crime that ranks along with Pineapple on Pizza and Jam on Roast Turkey.

Jim.

We've have a bit of fun with curries quite a bit at home - I used to say that if you can eat it, it's not hot enough ! We grow chillies too, but after trying the Habaneros (much like a mouthfull of boiling battery acid) we have toned the recipes down a bit :-o(........ We buy the spices in bulk at a place in Adelaide, and grind them up at home as required - cardamom being just about the favourite one. For trips, I make up a ground spice mix and take it with me - we now do the odd curry in the van's Smev oven. Oh yes - you asked about coconut cream /milk etc........ seems to me that the various standard descriptions are all about fat percentage......and, apparently chefs all say that "no fat = no flavour" - there seems to be a lot of variability in the fat strength for the brands that we have tried - milk in one can be as greasy as cream in another - we finally settled on a homebrand cream, and it keeps quite well in the fridge till the next session. Far as I recall, coconut fat is fully saturated - not a good one to splurge on (sigh).

Having been born and grown up in the Caribbean (Trinidad) I have eaten my share of curries which vary considerably as to thier origin. Most curries in Australian restaurants cater to the Europian taste and in my opinion very hard to get a genuine curry .Muzbry is not correct in saying that coconut milk(as sold in Aus.) is what the tourists drink from the coconut.Both coconut milk and coconut cream come from the mature hard white flesh of the coconut as described by John & Lynne.Thai curries use a lot more coconut milk than Indian style curries which rely more on mixed spices. The clear (like water) juice or water from the immature(green) coconut is what the tourists are seen to be using to drink and is NOT used in curries but is great with any alcoholic drink.Image Could Not Be Found

Ayam, is the best brand to buy. Some of the others are more water than anything else.